Social Networking Watch

Social Network Your Way To A New Job

THE MODESTO BEE -- Jan 6 -- 50 - 70% of jobs are discovered through networking, according to a research by Mark Granovetter, a Stanford University sociology professor. Half of employers think information posted on social networks should be taken into account when making hiring decisions, according to a 2006 AfterCollege Inc. survey of 750 employers. About 37% wouldn't hire someone if they discovered something questionable about them. FULL ARTICLE @ WORKING.COM

Mark Brooks: In 1973 Mark Granovetter wrote 'the strength of weak ties' which is classic social networking reading. 

Online Video Viewing Jumps 34%

CNET NEWS -- Jan 5 -- Internet users in the U.S. watched 12.7 billion online videos in Nov, an increase of 34% versus a year ago, according to ComScore. YouTube is the top U.S. video property with nearly 5.1 billion videos viewed. FULL ARTICLE @ CNET NEWS

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UK Housewives Are Net Addicts

SOCIALMEDIAN -- Jan 1 -- According to a study of internet behaviour, housewives in the UK spend 47% of their leisure time on the web, compared with 39% for students and 32% for the unemployed. Overall, the Chinese spend the largest part of their leisure time online - 44% compared with 28% for Britons, rising to 32% of those aged 18-24. FULL ARTICLE @ SOCIALMEDIAN    

Networking Sites Face Data Cost Crisis

TELEGRAPH.CO.UK -- Dec 29 -- Dozens of social networks could fail next year as digital advertising slows according to research from consultants Deloitte. Surviving websites may be forced to supplement their revenue with pay-subscriptions, selling members' data or extra financing, the researchers said. The gloomy forecast comes as growth predictions for digital advertising have halved from 17% to 7% for next year, according to eMarketer. FULL ARTICLE @ TELEGRAPH.CO.UK

Forty Million Americans Now Contribute To Social Networks

READ WRITE WEB -- Dec 11 -- According to a new report from Netpop Research, 76% of all U.S. broadband users actively contribute to social media sites, and 29% contribute regularly to social networks. Among these social networkers, Facebook is quickly catching up to MySpace, though iMeem, LastFM, Digg, and LiveJournal are also very popular with college students. FULL ARTICLE @ READ WRITE WEB

Housewives Spend Half Their Free Time On Web

TELEGRAPH.CO.UK -- Dec 9 -- Bored women spend nearly 47% of their free time surfing the web, a higher proportion than workers, the unemployed and even students. Most people log on to the internet to search for information, do their banking and visit news websites, according to the Digital World, Digital Life study. Other popular online activities include visiting price comparison websites, YouTube and eBay. 8% admit to using their free time to visit dating websites, and 7% of people contribute to blogs while online. FULL ARTICLE @ TELEGRAPH.CO.UK

Texters Are Young, Techy, And Shop Online

RESEARCH BRIEF -- Dec 3 -- On average, texters spend $87 on their monthly cellular bill. By contrast, all cellular subscribers spend an average of $75 monthly. Texter households are avid technology shoppers, says the report. Texters are more likely than the average cell phone subscriber to live in a household that owns, or plans to buy, a wide variety of hi-tech items, from HDTVs to MP3 players to video game systems. FULL ARTICLE @ CENTER FOR MEDIA RESEARCH

Mobile Social Networking Survey Released

PRESS RELEASE -- Dec 3 -- According to itsmy.com's survey, 95% (US) resp. 96% (UK) already use the mobile as main means of communication with their beloved ones. And 42% of them never used a (PC) online social network. Complete Survey - PDF download. FULL ARTICLE @ TECHWHACK

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Maybe Canadians Have More Friends

NY TIMES -- Nov 30 -- Canadian Internet users are far more likely than Americans to use a social networks, according to comScore. That number is consistent with Canadians' generally heavy use of sophisticated Internet features like online video. FULL ARTICLE @ NY TIMES

Social Network Users Ignore Ads

ADOTAS -- Nov 26 -- Few social network users buy products that were advertised on the services, according to a new survey. Members had a clicked-through rate of 57% as compared to 79% of all web users, according to the IDC. In addition, the online ads on social networks pulled in only 11% of users for purchases as opposed to 23% for the web overall. FULL ARTICLE @ ADOTAS

Social Networking Traffic Up As Ads Fall Flat

MEDIAWEEK -- Nov 25 --  More than half the country actively uses social networks, but so far advertising on these properties is nothing short of anemic, says a new report issued by market research firm IDC. Just 57% of social net users report clicking on an ad over the past year versus 79% of all users, according to the study. A similar disparity is evident when it comes to online shopping. FULL ARTICLE @ ADWEEK30

In Brazil 85% of Internet Users Do SN

BRAZZIL MAGAZINE -- Nov 20 -- comScore's data show that 85% of Brazilians age 15 and older who accessed the Internet from home or work computers in September 2008 visited a social network, up from 76% in September 2007. Compared to other countries with Internet populations of at least 10 million monthly unique visitors, Brazil had the second highest percent reach in the social networking category, slightly behind Canada with 87%. FULL ARTICLE @ BRAZZIL MAGAZINE

6.5 Million Americans Watched Mobile Video In August

PR NEWSWIRE -- Oct 31 -- Among the top operators in the United States, AT&T claimed the most mobile video viewers, with 4.4% of subscribers accessing either programmed or on-demand mobile video. With 1.3M viewers, amateur videos, such as those on YouTube, represent the most popular type of content, followed by music videos and comedy videos. FULL ARTICLE @ CNN MONEY

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Blogs Influence Purchases More Than Social Sites

CLICKZ -- Oct 28 -- Advertisements on blogs are an opportunity for marketers to reach consumers. A study conducted by JupiterResearch found that 40% of people reading blogs have taken action as a result of viewing an ad on a blog. Blog play a greater role than social networks, likely because bloggers establish themselves as an authority on a topic, particularly in niche areas, and create a relationship with the consumer. FULL ARTICLE @ CLICKZ

Mark Brooks: Small is the new big, indeed.  In a world of faceless, nameless corporations, the personal touch and the personal referral are being delivered by bloggers. Corporations are non-entities by definition, and consumers have had enough. They want to deal with people at some point. I've done a lot of direct selling work and one of the first things I was ever told in my direct sales training is that 'People Buy From People'. Sounds funny, but think about it. Social networks are positioned very nicely to sit in the middle of a massive referral market as consumer advertising and branding enters a new age of existence.

myYearbook Overtakes Wikipedia And Amazon

MARKET WATCH -- Oct 28 -- myYearbook.com is now the 14th largest site in the US as measured by page views and the 19th largest site as measured by total minutes spent online according to comScore. Logging more than 1.5 billion page views and 792 million minutes spent online in September, myYearbook surpassed Amazon, ESPN, and Wikipedia. FULL ARTICLE @ MARKET WATCH

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Social Networks Gain Traction At Work

IDG -- Oct 27 -- Market research firm NewDiligence surveyed 527 end users and IT managers and found about 60% of respondents use social-networks at work, while 85% use IM and media, including streaming audio and video. FULL ARTICLE @ NY TIMES

Mark Brooks: Yammer is getting some traction. It's Twitter for companies. However, Twitter now has a similar service. See twitter.zappos.com.

Twitter Grows Like Wildfire, But MySpace Still On Top

CNET NEWS -- Oct 22 -- 10 fastest growing social-networking sites for September 2008 according to Nielsen.

1. Twitter.com 343% YOY
2. Tagged.com 330%
3. Ning 251%
4. LinkedIn 193%
5. Last.fm 121%
6. Facebook 116%
7. MyYearbook 115%
8. Bebo 86%
9. Multiply 59%
10. Reunion.com 57%
The biggest social network in the U.S. is still MySpace but its traffic has only grown by 1% since September 2007. FULL ARTICLE @ CNET NEWS

Mark Brooks: Ning is sure to be Andreeson's next big hit. There's a plethora of white label options (see Build Your Own SN) but Ning is simple and affordable. 

Friendster Is #1 Social Network In Singapore

PRESS RELEASE -- Oct 22 -- According to comScore Friendster had 974,000 unique visitors in August 2008 in Singapore, compared to Facebook at 544,000 and MySpace at 157,000. In August, visitors to Friendster spent an average of 107 minutes on Friendster compared to 102 minutes on Facebook and 44 minutes on MySpace, making Friendster the most social and engaging of all three networks. FULL ARTICLE @ YAHOO NEWS

Mark Brooks: Friendster was seeded in the San Francisco Bay Area which has a strong Asian population. Consequently the site became popular in Asia, especially the Phillipines and Singapore. Meanwhile, Orkut is popular in Brazil and India. Here's a handy little map of what SNS are most popular in various countries around the world.

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Not-So-Social Conduct In China's Networking War

WSJ -- Oct 16th -- Oak Pacific Interactive, a leading Chinese Internet company, recently launched a beta version of a new social network, Kaixin.com. There's already an increasingly popular social network called Kaixin001.com Oak Pacific has opened a new front in the war to because China's Facebook. There were 61m SN users in 2006. iResearch expects that figure to hit 110m this year and 180m users by 2010. Within such a big universe, spoof sites and low-tech copycats aren't unheard of. Oak Pacific's Xiaonei.com social network, China's most popular by traffic, has a clone called Xiaonei001.com. Another site, shangxin.com, has a clone called shangxin001. Industry experts say the launch of Oak Pacific's new site might have an impact on Kaixin001, since the similarity in Web page features and names might confuse potential registrants. FULL ARTICLE @ CHINA JOURNAL

Facebook Hosts 10 Billion Photos

CNET NEWS -- Oct 15 -- On Tuesday night, engineer Doug Beaver wrote a blog post announcing that the total count of photos on Facebook now stands at about 10 billion. The social network announced informally in August that it has hit 100m active users worldwide. To compare, Photobucket stood at slightly less than 6.2 billion photos on Wednesday morning. Flickr, which is owned by Yahoo, hit 2 billion photos just less than a year ago. FULL ARTICLE @ CNET NEWS

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